Chapter 11
Patty, sat frozen in her seat, the thumb and fingers on her right hand
buried deep in Roger’s arm beside her.
She looked in the direction of the pilot’s pointed finger as the
helicopter banked sharply. From the
sounds of it, they were coming in hard and fast in the hopes of surprising the
poachers down below. The soldier manning
the door-mounted machine gun pulled the bolt back and chambered a round, a long
ribbon of bullets ready to follow. As
the aircraft leveled off just above the treetops, a clearing came into view.
The earth was recently scarred with a row of freshly fallen mahogany logs
laying beside a makeshift lean-to. At
first glance, all was quiet but then she noticed a thin wisp of smoke coming
from a recently extinguished fire. People had definitely been here. The helicopter circled cautiously as it wound
its way down to the brown earth below.
Suddenly, people sprung up from beside the creek where they had been
crouching. Two men leveled rifles at the
chopper as a group of women and children started to run in the opposite
direction. Patty heard the dull thud of lead
piercing the thin aluminum shell of the helicopter, and a bullet ricocheted off
a metal rod right beside her head. The
soldier opened fire and while Patty covered her ears from the deafening echo
inside the chopper, she saw one man go down.
The other ducked into the ditch while the chopper circled for a better
vantage point. Briefly, Patty lost site
of the action and when the chopper levelled off again, she saw the remaining man
standing with his hands in the air. The
other man was laying motionless in the ditch, bloody welts where he had been
shot.
“Oh my, oh my god.” Everything happened so fast that Patty hadn’t had
time to react. She fought back nausea.
As the chopper touched down beside the creek, two soldiers jumped out,
their weapons trained on the man. He was made to lay face down in the dirt and
was rapidly handcuffed and searched. The Commander got out of the chopper
followed by the medic and Roger. Patty
undid the four-point harness across her chest and cautiously stepped out of the
helicopter. She sat on a log in a daze. One of the soldiers jumped into the ditch and
approached the man who had been shot. Gun
pointed, he turned the man over with his boot. The man had been shot through
the chest several times and was very dead.
While the soldier picked up the man’s rifle, the medic felt for a
pulse. Patty turned away from the
gruesome sight.
The soldiers secured the empty lean-to and did an initial sweep of the
camp perimeter. They signalled the Commander
who gave Roger and Patty a thumb’s up sign.
While Roger and the Commander investigated the smouldering fire, Patty
walked over to the lean-to which was a tribute to jungle improvisation. It consisted of four corner posts with
crotches on their tops, across which crooked logs had been fastened to support
a thatched roof. Three of the walls were
framed-in with pieces of wood and palm branches. Banana leaves were woven
together into mats and laid over the dirt floor. A couple boxes and a few coils of rope lay in
one corner. A few blankets lay empty in
what looked like a sleeping area. As
Patty walked across the front of the lean-to she let her eyes adjust to the
shadows. There was no sign of life in
the lean-to.
“This is probably where they smoked those two bonobos” said Roger. “The remains of their hands and feet are in
the ashes.”
“I don’t see any live bonobos in here.” She said. “Are there any other
buildings?”
“Not that I can see.”
Roger walked into the lean-to and looked around. He nodded his agreement.
The soldiers had zipped the dead man into a body bag and were loading
him, along with the other man into the back of the helicopter. The medic was
taking care of William, still laying on the stretcher. “Anything?” asked the
Commander.
“No. Nothing. Can we ask him if
he knows anything about a bonobo?” Roger pointed at the man being shoved into the
helicopter.
The Commander nodded and Roger spoke to him in French. When that didn’t work, he switched to the
smattering of Swahili that he knew. At
first the man was uncooperative but a kick in the back by a soldier helped persuade
him. He pointed at the dead man and said
that he had a young bonobo. Roger asked him where it was, “Ambapo ni
tumbili?”. The man shrugged and then pointed
at the creek. He motioned with his
fingers that there was a trail and a hut down the creek. Roger patted him on
the shoulder and thanked him. “Asante”.
The Commander stepped away from the helicopter, “I don’t know what you
two want to do, but we have to get back. We can take you back to your camp if
you want but we don’t have the fuel or the authorization to look for your bonobo.”
Roger spoke, “It’s okay. If we find the bonobo we still have lots of
time to get back. It’s only a couple kilometers.“
Patty’s eyes grew at the prospect of the army leaving them behind. “Seriously?”
“Sure, a bonobo’s life hangs in the balance. I say we go down the creek
and find this hut. With any luck we can convince them to give us the bonobo and
then we can decide to come back here until morning or go for it. I think we will be safe enough if we don’t
try to be heroes.”
Patty rolled her eyes, “You don’t have to worry about me!”
“We’ll be fine.” Said Roger.
“But they have guns.” Patty cried.
Roger picked up the dead man’s AK47 and nodded questioningly at the
Commander, who nodded back. “Yes, but
so do we.” Roger smiled. He didn’t seem
the least bit worried. “This is exactly
what you left the comfort of your safe little laboratory for. Don’t you feel
your heart beating? Now you know you’re alive!”
Patty tapped in to that same inner strength that
drove her to get in the helicopter in the first place. “Okay, but I don’t think
Mike is going to like this.”
Roger checked to make sure his radio was turned
off. “No worries, you leave Mike to me…
we go way back and if we bring him a bonobo tomorrow, he’ll get over it.”
“Yea and if we don’t?”
“What’s the worst that can happen?” Roger laughed.
Patty smiled even though her heart was thumping against
the walls of her chest, again.
